thee good at thy latter end Mark that phrase well at thy latter end which imports the time of Gods shewing mercy to many even of his own people that they shall not have the good of Gods present dealings with them till their latter end It may be before this Message came from the Lord to this people they began to repent them in part of what they had done in following of Moses and putting themselves upon so many hardships and think all to be but labour lost and their service in obeying the Lords commands to be in vaine but now they are answered and taken off from this hearing that the time of their reward was not yet come but that verily it would come and that without faile to wit in the latter end So then it 's clear that a soul in obeying God and in doing him service may bee led through a wildernesse where it may meet with serpents scorpions drought and a great deale of hardship and be much disappointed in its expectation and desires And yet the Lord may intend it good at the last and plentifully reward it for all the service it doth for him And therefore let not any complaine till they have cause Ps 9.18 The patient abiding of the meek shall not perish for ever And Ps 58.11 verily there is a reward for the righteous And Yet a little while Heb. â— 37 and he that shall come will come and will not tarry Have you never heard it rumor'd and reported very commonly and confidently that such or such a ship hath been quite cast away and lost and yet that ship hath come home afterwards richly laden So t is oft' in Prayer and other duties and therefore be not overmuch discouraged though you enjoy not the present fruit of your labours in due time Gal. 6.9 you shall reap if you faint And thus far in answer to these thoughts and objections that are in the people of God from the first ground in themselves Obj. 2 The second ground of this Feare followes to be answered Namely That indiscernable difference that is in themselves betweene their serving and not serving of God The Soul saith surely I cannot perceive that I am any whit the better for all the service that I have done to the Lord For all my Prayers hearing christian communion and the like I am as well when I omit serving of him or when I am slighty in his service as when I serve him most and best of all I prosper as well in my businesse and returne as safe home from my journey when I set forth without seeking direction from the Lord as when I do seek him before I goe out I sleepe as sweetly when I goe to bed without Prayer as when I do pray and so for other particulars Therefore this serving of the Lord seemes to be vaine To this also I answer divers wayes Answ 1 First That it is a sad thing that any of Gods people should Try and Tempt him in this manner to doe as if they should say I le see what the Lord will doe for me without asking and the like that any who have tasted how gracious the Lord hath beene unto them in a duty or ordinance that they should in the least degree willingly omit such a duty againe and that they should to speak after the manner of men disappoint the Lord thus That when the Lord shall goe into thy Chamber or Closet at the usuall time of Prayer with his eare open to the Prayer that thou hadst need to make him that then thou shouldest not be there but he must be forced to turne himselfe away missing whom hee looked for That when the Lord bringeth mercy in his hand as it were to bestow upon thee that thou shouldst not be there to receive it but he must be forced to carry his mercy back againe with him and when he bringeth his bottle to put up thy tears thou sendest him empty away This I say is a very sad thing Answer 2 But secondly I answer that if there be no difference in thine outward man in thy estate body name and the like yet there may be great difference in thine inner man and soul and I dare say there is so Doth not thy neglect of duty beget a dislike of duty doth no disuse in Gods service breed an auknesse and an indisposition thereto I doubt not but if the heart be well observed it will be acknowledged that this is true that it is thus And is this nothing Answer 3 Thirdly I would demand of those that say they can find no difference in themselves between the time when they serve the Lord and when they do not serve him whether they doe never at no time find any difference Sometimes it may be you find little or no difference the Lord meets you not in duties but you go away empty with hardnesse in your hearts and blacknesse in your bosomes and the like as you conceive But is it alwayes thus are you never answered in the joy of your soules does the Lord never give you a good look nor shew you a pleased face If you have any Joh. 15.11 slight them not are the consolations of God small unto you Or if you have none yet that thou art upheld in the way and in the work of the Lord to go on in his service even this very thing is a great mercy and is very like to be the fruit and wages for the former work and service thou hast done him And it is all one whether the Lord doth give the soul what it would have presently or strength to persevere in his wayes till he doth meet and answer it Of the two the last is rather the best because the soule honours God most by this Answer 4 Lastly consider if thou hast such and such things gifts or parts in as full a measure when thou dost not serve God as when thou dost serve him most exactly yet thou canst not look upon them as such speciall mercies if they come not in the way of seeking and serving God Psal 69.22 The very table of wicked men is made their snare Prov. 1.32 the prosperity of fooles shall slay them 2. There be also thoughts in the hearts of Gods people about the vanity of Gods service arising from some ground in others for thus they reason Obj. Those that have no care at all to serve God or to attend upon the duties of his worship yet they seeme to spred and to fare as well as those that serve him most and best of all and therefore the serving of God seemes to be in vaine To this also divers answers may be made Ans 1 As first that there is much difference in the maine and in that which ought most to be regarded Though they may seeme to be as well in their outward condition and for their body yet not with their soules for they are not in Gods wayes nor
that hee hath found a better service then the Lord's Hos 2.5 and that it is better to serve sinne the world and the Devill then to serve God and doth as if he should say well friends heare me and know my judgement Time was when I was a slave to my lust and the world and had no heart to any of the duties of God's service I never cared for prayer the word nor any such thing and so I spent my twenty or thirty first yeares And afterward I know not how going to such a place where there was a Sermon I could not choose but goe in and in hearing my conscience being much stird I was brought to take another course and then I gave my selfe to pray heare read and the like and to professe religion and thus I have held thus many years So that I have tryed both masters and tryed both services and now I proclaime to all the world that I judge the service of sin and of the Devill to be better then the Lord's service for I thinke this to be but a vaine service and therefore I leave it and turne as I hope to mend my selfe Now must not the Lord needs take this very ill at the hands of such as shall thus disparage his service in this manner Vse 2. Of reproofe The second use is for reproofe First to such as not onely think thus that the service of God iâ— in vaine that a man is never the better for it but judge it so evill and conceive a man is much the worse as those in Ioshua to whom it seemed evill to serve the Lord so some think Iosh 24.15 that such as give themselves to pray and mourne for their sins that are zealous for God and forward in the profession of religion are the worse worse in their health worse in their estates worse in their wits and the like These are a degree above the ordinary sort of wicked people and shal fare thereafter of which see Iude 15. for God shall come one day to execute judgement upon ungodly men not onely for all their ungodly deeds but for all their hard speeches also which they have spoken against him Secondly It is of Reproof to such as are guilty of this sinne in the Text. And of this sort are many and multitudes even of those that in a formall manner doe performe many services that the Lord requires that doe hear pray and professe and yet in their hearts have but meane and low thoughts of those duties of Gods service and looke upon the labour and paines taken in it as lost and in vaine Let these know that they are guilty of a sinne which the Devill himselfe was free from He said Iob. 1.9 that Iob did not serve God for nought yet these thinke the service of God to be vaine and fruitlesse but howsoever it is a desperate signe of a carnall heart and a black brand set upon the wicked by the hand of the spirit of God whereby all the world may know them to be wicked where-ever they find it And they themselves may know themselves so to be much more let them be otherwise never so faire and formall yet if they finde this in themselves it may be conviction enough unto them that their hearts are carnall and their conditions desperate If any body should goe and raise a report upon you that are Masters and give great wages that you gave your servants no wages would you take it well at their hands Yet thus doe you report of Gods service at least by your practice by your omitting of that which God commands and by your committing of that which God forbids you proclaime the service of God to be nothing worth But suppose one should aske you how you can tel that it is in vaine to serve God you never tryed to purpose what it was to serve him in sincerity If a man should go and report as before that you made your servants work for nothing you would say how can you tell that seeing you never tryed my service so may I say to such as complaine of the service of God to be a vaine service how can you tel it is so seeing you never made tryall of it upon your own experience and therefore you are guilty of speaking evill of the things which you understand not 2 Pet. 2.12 Thirdly it is of use by way of inference to the people of God For if it be a fault in carnall people much more in such as are spirituall and yet many of these are much to blame even about this very thing having strange thoughts about the vanity of Gods service that upon grounds both from themselves and others 1. From themselves and they are two The one is the non-apprehension of any good gotten by that service that they ever did for God The other is that indiscernable difference in themselves betweene serving and not serving of God performing and omitting the duties of Gods service For the better setling of the people of God in his wayes and service these grounds of their mistakings must be removed and their objections answered or else it is not the bare chiding of them or laying of blame upon them that will pacifie the Soul or satisfie doubts and scruples And therefore I shall endeavour to remove these lets and to answer these objections Obj. 1 First then the soul saith what should I do serving of God 2 King 6.33 or waiting upon the Lord any longer I have spent a great deale of time and taken a great deal of paines that way but I doe not see that I am the better for any thing that I have done as these people here though they had offered many sacrifices yet afterward began to look upon them as cast away We have offered many cattel and creatures in sacrifice say they but wee had better have sold them and laid out the money some other way for our comfortable subsistence So saith many a Soule what shall I doe I have prayed and mourned but nothing the better my Prayers are not let into heaven but shut out my almes are not had in remembrance before God but forgotten my teares are spilt and not bottled up my wants are not supplyed my desires are not answered my corruptions are not mortified I have taken much paines in attending upon the ordinances of God but have got little or no good by them And not only ordinary but extraordinary means have I used I have joyned fasting to my prayers and yet all will doe nothing I was amongst the people of God such a day and such a day in the duties of humiliation but alas I was never the better my heart was as hard at night as it was in the morning so that I had better have been about my calling or the world for there I might have done or got some good for the body but here I got no good either for body or soule there I might
of it can be sufficient and therefore doe such a duty with thy might pray with thy might heare with thy might stand for God with thy might and so for any other duty The want of this is the bane of a great many duties and of much service which are made void and unprofitable by this very meanes nay instead of a reward they shal have wrath and vengeance for their wages according to that of the Prophet Ieremy Ier. 48.10 cursed be he that doth the worke of the Lord negligently or deceitfully that might do it better then he does but doth not put out himselfe Or that seemes to do it otherwise then he doth it in deed seeming very zealous God when there is neither for life nor heat within Burning lippes and a wicked heart like Solomons plate a potsheard covered with silver drosse Pro. 26.23 Oh heare and feare The third part of this faithfulnesse Sincerity 3. is sincerity and uprightnesse in heart which is when a soule doth the service of God and the duties of it in obedience to his command aiming at him and his glory in the workes and duties that it doth performe The Lord would have servants looke through their earthly masters in the service they doe for them Eph. 6.5 and and to have an eye to Christ in what they doe who is the chiefe Master of all but much more then ought he to be especially eyed and aymed at in those actions which are immediately done unto himselfe true the eye of man cannot pierce the heart to diserne the intention of that but the Lords doth For however a servant may be accounted faithfull when as he doth not purely looke at his Master in the service he doth for his Master cannot see his heart yet he cannot be nor is accounted a faithfull servant with the Lord unlesse he lookes more at the Lord then at himselfe or any other In the 7 of Zach. 5. the Lord puts this question home unto them did yee at all fast to me and doubles it againe even to me that whereas they might be ready and overforward to make answer for themselves and say Yes Lord we did what we did to thee he replies even to me are you sure you did it to me that you looked purely at me c. The want of this makes void and vaine our worke and prevents that reward that else we might have as is cleare from Mat. 6.5 and 16 verse as if the Lord had said if you looke not at me in your worke why should you looke at me for wages for the worke you doe The fourth branch of this faithfulnesse required Faith or Believing 4. in the service of God to make it profitable is Beleeving which is that when the soule hath proved it selfe to be in covenant with God according to the first direction that then it stirres up it selfe to exercise faith in the beleeving Applying and pressing of those promises which it hath right and title to as touching assistance accceptance answering rewarding and the like The Apostle shewes the absolute necessity of faith Heb. 11.6 even in the exercise of it to be in those that approach nigh to God in any service of his Iam. 1.6 7 as in prayer Saint Iames shewes that such an one as doth not pray in faith without wavering must not looke to receive any thing as wages for his worke from the Lord though he may receive much from man rewards and applause c. Yet from the Lord he must looke for none if he doe he is but deceived and so shall bee The Lord saith to them that come to him as he said as he said to those blind men what doe you come to me for sight Matth. 9.28 29. according as you beleeve so shall you speed c. I am preswaded that if these men had come to our Saviour in an ordinary formall way led by the example of others that because they saw others that were blind and lame goe to Christ therefore they would goe too they might have gone away as blind as they came for any sight or benefit that they should have had from him And so if people goe to God in duties as in prayer in an ordinary formall way because it is the order and fashion to goe to God and pray in time of want they may goe often enough and pray long enough ere they shall obtaine and worke till they be weary in the service of God ere they get any good reward for it yea though a man be a beleever and hath that singular gift and grace of faith in him yet this is not enough unlesse he doth stirre up this gift and grace so as to have the use and exercise of it even in the time of working and doing God service for a habite is onely so farre of use and profitable as it is brought forth into act and exercise Experience shewes that the same soule which seemes one day to worke for nothing and to labour in vaine with God in the duties of his service another day or by another duty is sent loaden away full of the desires of its soule and thinkes it selfe abundantly rewarded the reason will be found to be from hence if it be well looked into that faith was more exercised at one time then at another If therefore thou wouldest not have the service of the Lord and the dutyes of it to be in vaine unto thee then worke in faith Last of all Perseverance 5. this faithfulnesse consisteth and is to be shewed in perseverance holding on without fainting Rev. 2.10 Be faithfull unto the death that is in persevering to the last for thus faithfulnesse is shewed he is not accounted a faithfull servant that gives over his work before it be done nor he faithfull to god or his own soul that gives over before he speed Psal 123.2 We waite upon the Lord untill he have mercy upon us so should a Christian refolve not to give over or away from God without an answer I doe not deny but a Christian may be held off and delayed in his suite and service that he may even make some question whether he hath not quite lost his labour whether ever his prayers shall be answered and his service rewarded or no for all may seeme to be in vaine 1 Cor. 4.5 Oh! but stay a while and Iudge nothing before the time much lesse this to say or thinke that the Lord will be so hard and unfaithfull as not to reward your labour for the full and set time of the Lord payment is not yet come I wish that well knowne place in Mat. 24 13 were as wel considered of as knowen He that endureth to the end the same shall be saved In which words amongst many things considerable there be especially two for our present purpose the condition of the promise and the promise it selfe Perseverance is the dutie required in all the parts of Gods
body can doe thus Oh! that J could do so too this is an evidence of a gratious heart that knowes the service of God to be a profitable service but on the contrary such as speak or think otherwise as formerly was said they think the service of God to be but a vaine service and this doth clearly evidence their hearts to be but carnall Thus for the proofe of the Doctrine now follow the Grounds of Reasons why carnal hearts doe Judge the service of God to be but vaine Reason 1 The first is because they make question whether there be any such Lord to serve or no for as Psal 14.1 The foole hath said in his heart there is no God so many such there be even amongst us who though they doe not verbally deny it yet they doe not really and cordially beleeve it for though this be one of those morall principles that are engraven upon the heart of man by nature which can never be utterly blotted out yet as others so this lies up as a dead principle in the Soule and stirs little till it be enlivened and then they making question whether there be such a God to serve or no no marvaile though they judge and condemne the service of that God to be in vain when the worshippers of Baal spent much time and paines in praying offring of sacrifice and cutting themselves with Knives and Lancers and continued thus doing all the day from morning till noone and from noone till night the Prophet that stood by mockt at them and derided them and the reason why he did so was because he knew that there was no such God as they seemed to serve none such to hear and help as they call'd and cried unto and that therefore what they did was in vaine Now that which Elijah the true servant of the true God did to those Priests servants and worshippers of Baal the servants of Baal of the world and sinne doe to the servants of the true God and that upon the selfe same ground though they be mistaken When these carnall hearted creatures and atheisticall spirits look upon the faithfull servants of God and see what time they spend and what paines they take in the service of the Lord calling and crying to the Lord by fervent Prayer cutting I meane rending and tearing their hearts by repentance and humiliation and that so long and constantly from the morning of their youth to the noon tide of their manhood and from the noone tide of their middle age till the evening of their life c. where carnall hearts behold these things I say they secreetly mock at the servants of God for doing thus as thinking in their hearts that their labour is but lost and in vaine because they make question whether there be any such God to serve or no which if there were not then it were in vaine indeed and though there be yet they questioning the truth of it these things must needs seeme in vaine to them Reason 2 Secondly They thinke the service of the Lord to be a vaine service because t is in vain to them they are never the better for any of Gods service which they doe and therefore they think that no body else is they get nothing at the table of the Lord nor at the throne of grace but come away as dead hearted with their corruptions as strong and they continuing as ignorant of the my steries of Christ and life and as unable to pray or doe God any service as formerly and therefore it being thus with them they thinke it is thus with every body else yea that there is no such good as men speake of to be gotten in any part of Gods service And the truth is they dare do no otherwise then give entertainement to these kind of thoughts being suggested to them by Satan hereby to prevent that condemning sentence which their own consciences would be ready to passe upon them for their unprofitablenesse in Gods service For should they admit of this for a truth that there were so much good to be got in duties and ordinances then would conscience be upon them and demand why they do then get no more good thereby and so make them call into question the truth and uprightnesse of their hearts and the manner of their performing duties and doing of God service Which to prevent as also to save themselves in the esteeme of others so farre as they can they cast this imputation upon the service of God it selfe Simil. As it is the practice of some servants that having wasted their wages by some riotous courses or secret haunts of expence to save their credits with their friends and such as would else be ready to tax them for ill husbandry in comming away without clothes on their backs or money in their purse they to save their credit and avoid blame unjustly accuse that service they dwelt in say that it is a stroying and wasting service much work and little wages that there is nothing to be gotten in it and the like thinking thereby to scape free from blame which t is true they may doe with those that know not the service but not with those that know how good and profitable a service it is Thus doe carnall hearts with the service of God and the duties of it thinking and saying it is but vaine to save themselves and whereas they cannot deny but that some others doe thrive and grow better and more then themselves they will not acknowledge this to be from the duties of Gods service but rather from some other thing as for instance when they see others grow in knowledge and parts whilst themselves remaine still grossely ignorant they will not acknowledge that they got this by attending upon the meanes and ordinances but rather impute it to good education to the strength of their memories and other abilities of their own when they see others have gotten power over their passions and corruptions whilst they remaine still hare-braind and furious upon every slight occasion that the wagging of a straw will make them off the hookes and make them little better then Bedlams they will not ascribe any such grace to be power received from Iesus Christ through any ordinance but rather to the goodnesse of their natures Oh they are of a more milde disposition then I am of my nature is hasty I cannot help it c. Nay rather then they will take shame to themselves they wil lay the blame upon God if for want of a true change in the heart they remaine without the spirit of God and the spirit of supplication that they are still children and babes cannot speak in Prayer further then what they have gotten from others then wil they excuse themselves and say that God doth not give the spirit of Prayer to every one alike not considering that promise of Gods giving his holy spirit to them that aske it meaning aright it is granted that he
doth not give it a like to all his people but yet he gives it so to all as it will be quickly discernable to them that have it even this way as many other wayes beside Reason 3 A third ground or reason of carnall peoples Judging thus of the service of God as if it were in vaine is because they see many of those very negligent and carelesse herein whom they much admire great ones and learned ones whom they Judge to be so wise that they cannot be thus mistaken And therefore when they see them carelesse in the duties of Gods service that either they use no prayer nor duties in their families or but seldome or if constantly yet but in a slighty formall way so for hearing the word and other duties c. They begin to thinke surely these things are not so needfull this same serving of God in this manner is not so profitable for if it were certainly such and such learned men and great Schollers that should know better what belong to it then so would not omit these things as they doe thus as the Apostle saith of them in Iude that they had some mens persons in admiration so some mens Iudgements and Practices are had in admiration and followed as unerring patterns and the judgements and examples of these men are more to them then all the precepts of God not considering that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 1.26 not many wise or great or noble are called Reason 4 The fourth Reason why carnall hearts Judge the service of God a vaine service is because the Lord doth many times deferre the paying of his servants wages for the service which they do for him till afterwards God doth not give them outward prosperity it may be at all and no marvell because as his Kingdome is not of this world so neither shall his servants live as in a Kingdome here nay it may be they attaine not to that inward joy and peace which they expect and shall bee sure of at last together with other parts of their reward which they are uncapable of whil'st they are here onely they must stay as those labourers for their penny Mat. 20. till night so they for their reward till death Now carnall people seeing nothing comming in having no Bird in their hand and wanting faith to believe and patience to waite give it over as labour lost and paines to no purpose that is taken in this service like as in their own doing service to the Devill because when they have sinned Psal 50. and God is so patient as not to reprove and punish them for the present they think hee never will so in the doing of good and serving the Lord they think because it is not rewarded for the present therefore it never will though yet the Lord hath bound himselfe by many promises to reward them which bonds are good debts and the Christians reversions which are better then the worldlings possessions Obj. But here comes an objection in the way which must be removed before we can proceed any further thus some may say if so many doe think the service of God to be in vaine as you say doe why then doe any that are thus naturall and carnall keep Gods service or doe him any work at all you will grant that many which are naturall and carnall yet doe much of Gods work pray preach heare c. And if they thought that all which they did were in vaine surely they would not doe as they do to lose labour Answ I answer there are divers grounds and reasons of their doing God some work and service though yet in their hearts they think it to be in vaine I will instance in two the oneis that they are haled and forced hereunto and that they can do no lesse either the examples of others or a habit gotten by practice or powerfull ordinances making way and work for an inlightned conscience not quite benum'd they are hereby forced upon that service of God which of themselves they have no love unto Simil. As two men that are friends dwell together the one of them having much work to doe calls to the other to come and helpe happily he will not goe himself but sends in his man now this man goes to work not out of any love to him that he goes to work withall nor yet out of any hope to be the better for working with him for he is agreed with his own Master and so therefore looks upon all other work as in vaine onely yet he goes as sent by his own master and so works for the other and dare doe no lesse even so it is here God and conscience are two friends and God having work to doe Prayers to make Sermons to Preach and heare or afflictions to suffer c. conscience that being Gods friend sends in its man for many a man is more servant to his conscience then he is to God and he falls to this work yet looking upon it as in vaine and yet can doe no lesse then goe and work being sent and forced by the power of his conscience to which he is a Servant and not to God though yet hee doth his worke And there is many a man that if his own Master conscience would let him alone that he could be quiet would not do half so much of Gods work as now he doth But when he goes to bed like a beast or abroad in the morning without prayer conscience stuffes his Pillow with Pricks and doth so hale gaule him and disease him that he cannot be quiet but it doggs him and there it baites him thou hast not beene at prayer how dar'st thou make such adventures as thou dost how can'st thou look to bee kept or blest without seeking God c. Hereupon he falls to work and then conscience is quiet and giving him a little cursed peace he is quiet too and this wages he hath from his conscience for the work and duties which he doth but as for any reward from God he hath no ground to looke for any and yet doth what he doth upon this ground I grant the best of Gods servants are bound to hearken to the voyce of conscience but wicked men are more driven by the lash and accusation of conscience then drawn to duty by the light thereof The other ground of this their doing God some work though yet in their hearts they think that service of God to be in vaine is this They do it to make sure uncertainties for though for their own parts they be setled in the thoughts and resolutions of these things and think and say as the Scripture saies of them that there is no God or that his service is in vaine c. Yet either by some powerfull Sermon or upon the generall acknowledgement of the contrary by others or happily upon the beholding of some of Gods people and their carriage in sicknesse and at the approaches of death how comfortably they